Tag: Golf Rallye

In 1989, the Volkswagen Rallye Golf appeared. Distinguishable by its box-flared wheel arches and rectangular projector headlamps, this model featured Syncro four-wheel drive, a cable shifted transmission and a G-Lader -supercharger 1763 cc (less than the typical 1.8L 1781 cc to meet the engine displacement rules) version of the injected 8 valve G60 1.8 litre engine.

Only five thousand cars were built in Volkswagen’s Brussels, Belgium, plant to satisfy FIA homologation requirements for the 1990 World Rally Championship and were priced at about DM 50,000 each (or roughly twice as much as a base Golf GTI). The Rallye Golf had around 161Bhp when it left the factory. The road going versions of the car were only available in five colours: Black, Tornado Red, Blue Pearl, Green Pearl and Graphite Metallic (grey).

The Volkswagen Golf Rallye G60 you see in the photograph was owned by one of the team here at ADE Tuning around 2000/1 and was his absolute pride and joy. It was purchased from a VW main dealership in Keighley. Realising that not many of these cars came up for sale. He made a few phone calls and quickly got on the road to go and see the car and leave a deposit. It was love at first sight and although the Rallye did need a bit of tlc it had all the original interior and alloys. The Volkswagen Golf Rallye was soon sat pride of place on the family driveway and that’s when the real fun started.

I not sure if any of you have ever heard the sound of a G60 engine, it’s sounds a bit like a banshees whine and after a Jabbasport charger and a smaller pulley was fitted along with a few other bits it sounded even more awesome. The Rallye also had a few cosmetic changes with new and bigger alloys and a de-badge grill so no non VW really didn’t have a clue what this car was.

It wasn’t long before the itch of serious modification and increased power over came and research into bigger and better engines and set ups started. That’s when the idea of converting the Rallye to one of the first UK if not European 1.8T 20v! Now back in the day there were no forums or Facebook to help research and get assistance from and there were only a handful of Mk2 Golf 1.8T 20v, so lots of shows where visited such as GTi International and pictures were taken of engine bays on disposable cameras.

Eventually after a while with a lot trial and error the beast ran! And not only did it run it sounded amazing with the 6 speed Audi S3 gearbox and Haldex conversion. As if it wasn’t loud enough the Rallye was taken to BlueFlame Performance and a custom exhaust system was made for the car. It was a real head turner and generally before you even saw it.